nearly eight.  Lord Lonsdale. then died, and the present Lord Lowther paid to my father’s estate 8500_l._ Of this sum I believe 1800_l._ apiece will come to my sister and myself; at least, would have come:  but 3000_l._ was lent out to our poor brother,[37] I mean taken from the whole sum, which was about 1200_l._ more than his share, which 1200_l._ belonged to my sister and me.  This 1200_l._ we freely lent him; whether it was insured or no, I do not know; but I dare say it will prove to be the case; we did not, however, stipulate for its being insured.  But you shall faithfully know all particulars as soon as I have learned them.[38]

16. Reading:  1795.

Here [Racedown Lodge, near Crewkerne, Dorsetshire] he and his sister employed themselves industriously in reading—­’if reading can ever deserve the name of industry,’ says Wordsworth in a letter to his friend Mathews of March 21, 1796.[39]

[37] Captain John Wordsworth, who perished by shipwreck a short time before the date of this letter.

[38] Memoirs, i. 88-9.

[39] Ibid. i. 94.

17. Satire:  Poetical Imitations of Juvenal:  1795.

LETTER TO WRANGHAM.

Nov. 7. 1806.

’I have long since come to a fixed resolution to steer clear of personal satire; in fact, I never will have anything to do with it as far as concerns the private vices of individuals on any account.  With respect to public delinquents or offenders, I will not say the same; though I should be slow to meddle even with these.  This is a rule which I have laid down for myself, and shall rigidly adhere to; though I do not in all cases blame those who think and act differently.

’It will therefore follow, that I cannot lend any assistance to your proposed publication.  The verses which you have of mine I should wish to be destroyed; I have no copy of them myself, at least none that I can find.  I would most willingly give them up to you, fame, profit, and everything, if I thought either true fame or profit could arise out of them.’[40]

18. Visit to Thelwall.

’Mr. Coleridge, my sister, and I had been visiting the famous John Thelwall, who had taken refuge from politics after a trial for high treason, with a view to bring up his family by the profits of agriculture, which proved as unfortunate a speculation as that he had fled from.  Coleridge and he had been public lecturers, Coleridge mingling with his politics theology, from which the other elocutionist abstained, unless it were for the sake of a sneer.  This quondam community of public employment induced Thelwall to visit Coleridge, at Nether-Stowey, where he fell in my way.  He really was a man of extraordinary talent, an affectionate husband, and a good father.  Though brought up in the City, on a tailor’s board, he was truly sensible of the beauty of natural objects.  I remember once, when Coleridge, he,